Leaving London for The Peak District, Derbyshire

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This morning we ate our Sainsbury’s breakfast in our room, showered, shaved and were booked out of the hotel by about 9am. We wheeled our luggage around to Victoria Station and caught the Victoria Line on the tube to Euston Station. We then changed to the overland trains to get the Virgin train to Stoke. After one and a half hours, and averaging 200 kph we arrived and caught a taxi to the Thrifty car hire office.

We had booked a BMW or similar category from Thrifty and were thrilled to find we have a Mercedes E220d - a long and sleek one, the grey ghost. It is a little different to ours, but easy to understand. And the nav girl is the same girl we have at home! So off we set.

I was surprised to find myself a little bitter. Today and tomorrow were originally planned around my family history, and we were passing the turn offs to the villages that we had planned on visiting, but at the end of June my DNA matches on Ancestry had proven that my father was adopted, and 30 years of research was wasted on a family whose genes and DNA I do not share - my adopted grandfather’s family. Even the accommodation for the next two nights was chosen for its connection to his family. We are in Fenny Bentley, home to the Beresfords, the Lord Bentleys, Pop Robinson’s ancestors, but not mine (next year we will explore the villages of my grandfather’s ancestors, my dad’s birth father’s family).

So we drove on through the countryside, the narrow lanes and the occasional woods and arrived at the Bentley Brook Inn. We’ve booked the Beresford Room for 2 nights. After unpacking a little we went downstairs to the bar for a bit to eat and a drink. We sat there happily reading for quite some time before returning to our suite for a nap.

We dined in the hotel’s dining room - chicken fajitas followed by a wonderful Pavlova. I don’t understand why there is no wifi. This hotel is used extensively as a wedding venue, and I would imagine the patrons would appreciate wifi. I certainly would, but alas.

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